BMW racers took three overall wins and an additional class win when the SRO America GT4 SprintX and TC America Series ran at Portland International Raceway on July 13–14. Johan Schwartz in the #80 Rooster Hall Racing M240i Racing won both 40-minute sprints in the TCR America series, Greg Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan in the #19 Stephen Cameron Racing M4 GT4 won the GT4 SprintX national Pro-Am class in the first SprintX race of the weekend, and Jon Miller and Harry Gottsacker in the #28 ST Racing M4 GT4 won the second SprintX race of the weekend and clinched the GT4 SprintX West Pro-Am championship with two races remaining in the season. Mini also won in Portland; Mark Pombo in the #59 Mini JCW won the TCA class in the second TCR/TCA sprint.
In TC Schwartz battled with Toby Grahovec in the #26 Classic BMW M240iR in both races. Schwartz held off Grahovec in race one for the win. In race two Grahovec led until late in the race. Schwartz got by, but then the two cars came together and went off course when Grahovec tried to regain the lead. Schwartz recovered and held on for the win. Grahovec got back on course, but not until he was passed by a pack of cars led by Robert Nimkoff in the #20 Auto Technic M240iR. Nimkoff finished second and Chandler Hull finished third in the #94 BimmerWorld M240iR. Grahovec finished tenth.
Nate Norenberg in the #59 Mini JCW finished second to Nick Wittmer’s Subaru BRZ tS in the first of two TCR/TCA class sprints. Mark Pombo won the second sprint in the #60 Mini JCW.
Four classes ran in the two 60-minute GT4 SprintX races. In the GT4 Sprint X national series Liefooghe and Cameron won the Pro-Am class in race one and finished third in race two, when the overall and class wins went to Jason Hart and Matt Travis in a Porsche Cayman. In the national series Am class Kris Wilson and John Allen in the #16 Auto Technic M4 GT4 finished second in both races.
Greg Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan won their class in the first SprintX race in Portland.
In the GT4 Sprint X west Pro-Am class, Jon Miller and Harry Gottsacker in the #28 ST Racing M4 GT4 finished second in race two and their teammates Jason Wolfe and Samantha Tan finished third. The overall and class wins went to Christian Szymczak and Kenny Murillo in a Mercedes-AMG GT4. Gottsacker and Miller took the overall and class wins in race two, unofficially securing the class championship with two races in October remaining on the calendar. Wolfe and Tan one again finished second in class in race two.
Jon Miller and Harry Gottsacker clinched the GT4 SprintX west title with a win in Portland.
Both the TC and GT4 classes run again at Watkins Glen on Labor Day Weekend, and then at Road America on September 20–22, and in Las Vegas on October 18–20. GT4 SprintX east racers will run along with Sprint X national classes at Watkins Glen and Road America, while GT4 SprintX west racers will run again in Las Vegas along with the national series.—Brian Morgan
[Photos courtesy Brian Morgan, BMW AG.]
